For Better Or For Worse
by Dahlia Derbyshire
Summary: After ten years living in the city, budding journalist and bride-to-be Brielle Foster returns to her homeland. Only rather than getting the story necessary for her big promotion, her arrival stirs up more drama than she bargained for. While the Harvest God and Goddess ruin Castanet squabbling Bri must choose to put aside her hurt feelings and face it, or repeat the past and run.


**So guys, just saying, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for abandoning my other two stories (Yes, I abandoned the original Haven, but Extenuating Circumstances is still going.) I'll have you know I'm really busy. I'm juggling school, and theater, and work. I have maybe two hours a night to do something for myself.**

**And I really did lose my flash drive. So on this story I decided to start fresh. I want to write Mary (now renamed to Brielle, which actually adds meaning to the plot, you'll see.) as a more mature character. I've upped everyone's ages, so now I can write about alcohol. Yaaay.**

'**For Better or For Worse' is my adult version of Haven, and it basically plays out more of a Soap Opera than an adventure, though, naturally, there will be some adventure aspects to it.**

**Also, language will be M. So if you're offended by cursing, move along to the next story. **

**Dahlia out.**

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Summary: After ten years living in the city, budding journalist and bride-to-be Brielle Foster will return to her homeland. Only rather than getting the story necessary for her big promotion, her arrival stirs up more drama than she bargained for. When the truth behind her childhood is revealed and her social life becomes a soap opera, she is forced to make a decision: choose to live the life she thinks she's always wanted with a rich husband and a big house, or fix the life she's already got.

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Chapter 1: Homecoming

There was a girl. She looked so sweet, maybe about ten years old. Her brown hair was messy in an adorable played-for-several-hours kind of way. She had one hand full of breadcrumbs, and another cradling a bored-looking kitten… Wait, I've seen this… No, it's okay.

Anyways, she was sauntering up the road with a grin towards the Church grounds of Castanet. The cat mewed and her pigtails bounced, it was all vaguely…vaguely familiar.

The small girl, who seemed so happy just walking, shrunk back whenever another person passed. It was cute, her shyness. She preferred the company of her tabby over actual human companionship. Her neighbors were scarier than the dead birds her kitten brought home. Gosh, that's funny, because she reminds me an awful lot of myself…hey…

Well, the girl rushed to the grass by the church where the birds nested and flung the breadcrumbs there, expecting it to be as perfect as it was in the stories. She'd seen it in books: the heroine feeding the birds to pass time as she waits for her true love. Only, ha, that's a good joke.

Wait…oh my. That little girl just turned. Holy shit. Her eyes. Those are _my _eyes. Golden eyes, mysterious genetics originating from some far-off ancestor. I'm her! She's me! I'm dreaming about my childhood!

Okay. Brielle, just wake up now. No need to dream about one of your worst childho-

Oh lord. The birds, they've seen me, er, her. They're swooping down now. Oh! She, er, I dropped my poor cat. Oh God I, er, she's running, her little legs are taking her as far away as they can. But she's not getting very far. Those sons of bitches fly _really _fast.

Shoot, she tripped. I remember that all too well. I scraped my knee and cried on the ground, shielding my face and my cat. It feels so strange, watching it rather than experiencing it. Those birds, pecking at my shoulders, swooping around my body. I remember the horror I experienced, all too well actually; but watching it is so different…

She's about to fight back, when suddenly it all just stops and she's filling the silence with her sobbing. It takes her a moment, but she looks around. Good girl. She's pulling herself up now, shushing her kitten.

"Are you all right, little girl?" A melodic voice asks. Oh that voice, so comforting. So pretty.

She's startled by the voice and falls back, balancing herself enough so she doesn't fall. She looks up at this woman, beautiful. Only the woman is beautiful in such a unique way. She has this pointed nose that declares a sense of dominance, and her eyes. Those eyes. They're so bright, so elegant, a vibrant aquamarine that complimented her pale pallor. She dresses so nicely too, a skirt-suit and heels, with her light hair (I never noticed before, but is that blue?) pulled back.

The shy little girl is in awe. The woman repeats herself. "Are you all right?"

Only now does the little girl realize what she just went through, and despite being in the company of a beautiful stranger, she bursts into hideous, snotty, tears.

Frowning, the woman kneels down to the girl. She brushes back some of her sandy locks. "Hush child, it's all right. The birds are gone." Her voice is so strong and believable, it causes the little girl to soften some of her sobbing, ever so slightly. Only it's not enough, and the little girl shoves herself and her kitten into the woman's arm.

"Shh, uh…shhh." The woman awkwardly hums, cradling the child now. She brushes the top of the little girl's hair. Ultimately she's accepting that this won't just be a passing hello or glance. Coaxing this little girl into talking to her will take some serious effort-

"Are you…sniff…you a princ- sniff sniff…princess?"

The little girl has forced herself to stop crying so heavily and has pulled away slightly. She is now looking up at the woman expectantly.

"Heh, well," the woman responds shyly, avoiding the child's innocent glare. "I wouldn't call myself a princess, no… Anyhow, child, do you know where Marimba Far-." She stops. For one second the woman turns to look at the little girl, and sees it. Those eyes are golden as gleaming honey, brighter than anything humanly possible.

This unnerves the woman. She takes the child's face with both her hands, ignoring the cat awkwardly placed between the two of them, and leans in. "Goodness. Tell me, who are you." The sweetness to her voice vanishes, replaced by urgency.

Confused, the girl sniffles. "Brielle Foster." She says.

"No child." The woman says sternly. "Who are your parents?"

The woman is not helping. "Mommy and Daddy…?" Little Brielle questions.

Throwing her hands up, the woman abruptly stands. She strides two steps away, before swiveling around. "Child, go to your parents. Heal yourself. And know that I am not amused."

And just like that she's gone. Falling leaves left in her wake. It starts to rain, or at least she thinks it's raining. Rain is certainly hitting her face, but she can't see any visible drops. Ow…they're starting to get heavier…

Everything is fading, turning to black. The little girl is disappearing, the Church Grounds are fading. The leaves are blending in with all of the other colors. The cat is still there, briefly, one of the last things to fade completely to black.

I shot up, consequently running my face into a drooling, ages-old St. Bernard.

"Gah!" I exclaimed, falling back and rolling away on the bed. I rolled into my boyfriend, Leonard, who suddenly came to consciousness just enough to see my pained expression and the slobber on my face.

Leonard was handsome, in his own way. Naturally he wasn't handsome at the moment, just woken up and with a bad case of bedhead. Even so, I liked him. He was smart, had dark hair that was cut short. His glasses made him look sophisticated, and oddly attractive in a Clark Kent kind of way, minus the superpowers.

"Hun…" He murmured drowsily, "It's just Lucky." He took his pillow out from under his head and laid it over his face, turning over to face away from me.

I rolled my eyes, roughly took that damned pillow and threw it at the wall. "First of all, Lucky is a horrible name for that hellish dog." I told him angrily, crawling away and off of the bed, stomping my way to the bathroom. I rammed my big toe into some luggage, cursed, and stumbled to the doorframe of the bathroom. "_And secondly_," I hissed, "That's not it."

Dejectedly, the boyfriend finally sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard. "That's not _what_?" He inquired slowly, scooting to pet his childhood pet Lucky.

My nostrils flared and I retorted back, "That's not why I'm mad!" I had my hurt foot in the air, pressed against the opposite frame as I tried to inspect the damage.

He stopped petting Lucky and pushed himself off of the bed, slowly trekking over to my side at the door. "You're mad?" He asked foolishly.

Leonard was clearly not helping me…then again, I didn't quite know what I needed help with. Even so, I was still angry at him, I thought. That made sense, anyways. I was angry at his dog therefore I must have been angry with him.

Even so, I was supposedly fuming, and it only made it worse that he didn't notice. "Well! Shit, I don't know!" I cursed, stepping back into the bathroom and slamming the door into his handsome Accountant face.

I spent only a few seconds in his bathroom, nicely decorated as it was, before I realized I didn't know how I felt and how I responded to that was not nice. Sighing, I opened the door back up, only to see my poor boyfriend rubbing his nose that I probably hit with the door. I suddenly felt horrible.

"I'm sorry, Leonard." I mumble, stepping towards him. I removed his hands from his face and replaced them with my own. Lightly kissing his nose, I went on, "I don't know what came over me. It's just…Well…" I leaned my head forward, resting my forehead on his.

"Just what?" He responded, breathing in contentedly. That moment was good, I liked that moment. Just the two of us. His dog had crawled out of there minutes prior, and good riddance, too. No doubt that dumb mutt was somewhere in the apartment eating bugs or something.

"Just…well, I had that dream again." I told him about the dream years ago, back when we were still maybe a month into dating. He had wondered why I cowered behind him every time a bird flew by during our walk in the park. Since then he refused to ever let me walk anywhere alone, of course the idea was unrealistic but it was also beautifully romantic.

He parted, only to take my hands and lead me back towards the bed, setting me romantically on his lap and holding my shoulders lovingly. "I'm sorry. How bad was it this time?"

I sighed, shrugging. "I don't know. I can't describe it, but it was different this time. I wasn't experiencing it, I was _watching _it happen. And the woman seemed mad, madder than she usual seems anyways." I looked at him quizzically. "Is that weird?"

"Nah." He soothed, probably only to make me feel better.

I laughed and nuzzled him. I very well knew it was weird, every time I had that dream something about it was weird. Some nights I would envision myself as the birds, or I would start to notice things, like Mount Garmon uncharacteristically on fire, or some silky silhouette lurking by the entrance to the graveyard. There was always some strange aspect to my dream.

It was my turn to contentedly sigh, and boy I did. "Can we just stay like this forever?" I asked Leonard, throwing my arms around his neck. Leonard helped me to forget about that moment, only one of the scary moments I had growing up on Castanet. Of course it was the only frightening occurrence that wasn't ranch-related. Even so, I felt so normal with Leonard. In a place where bright eyes were usually caused by colored-contacts, and awkwardness was just the trait of a visionary. Back on Castanet I was different, and nobody would ever let me forget it.

"Mhmm, forever…" Leonard mused. And we did, I mean, stay like that for a little bit that is. Without much warning Leonard suddenly tensed, pushed my hurriedly off his lap and jumped into his closet. He started throwing clothing options behind him onto the floor and the bed, "hurry and get dressed Bri, I'll be late for work if I don't drive you to the airport right now."

Ah, the airport. Right, I was traveling, wasn't I? Leonard and I lived in the city and at this point in our lives he worked as an Accountant for a Legal Firm. Meanwhile I had a job as a reporter for the city's newspaper. The job was fine, so to say. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't depressed either. It was a job. It helped pay the rent. Part of this job was to go to my small homeland on a deserted peninsula and write a small piece about social connections in a small town. Apparently people who lived in a large city their whole lives, such as my wretched boss, were curious about the lives of hills-folk. Or they were at least curious enough to read a fifth-page column on it. Nevertheless, this story was a step up from writing about another robbery or evaluating the best places to eat out over the weekend.

"I hate that I have to leave you one month before our wedding." I admitted to Leonard, who shot me a rushed look of sad agreement.

"And the morning after your birthday," he told me, seductively raking over my body with his eyes. In one action he had seamlessly reminded me of how we'd celebrated my birthday…I blushed. "But hey," he told me as he slid a belt onto his pants and strode over, kissing me quickly. "Just think of how good the pre-wedding wedding-night will be." He winked.

I snorted unattractively just then, the both of us startled and amused by it. This was why I liked Leonard. He brushed all of my awkward encounters off so simply. He was so constant. I was very happy in my decision to marry him.

As he instructed I eventually got dressed, putting on a very comfortable outfit for the plane. It wasn't much. I wasn't a high fashion queen, no, but I did appreciate cleanliness, comfort, and fit. My wardrobe was filled of very basic pieces that I mixed and matched. My mother was a farmer, and I never desired to dress like she did. I always preferred skirts over overalls, and blouses over T-shirts…in fact, did I own a T-shirt? No, I only slept in T-shirts, and those were Leonard's.

Dressed in a royal blue button-up, khakis, inch black heels and a knit cardigan I gathered my luggage and waited for Leonard at the front of his apartment. It was a nice, big place. He'd inherited it from his parents, who were –lucky for me- loaded. He came from a very wealthy family, they paid for all of his college and even then some. I would miss this glorious sanctity of mirrored coffee tables and mod décor for the next month.

Within the hour we found ourselves on the road, lightly chatting as we cruised onward. Within that same hour we had arrived at the city airport, where a private pilot courtesy of Leonard's parents, was waiting to fly me to Castanet.

Leonard and I quickly kissed goodbye at the entrance to the airport before he drove away, as he had to be at work soon. I managed to find my private pilot, what with the help of airport staff. I didn't know how much money Leonard's parents had to pay, but I knew it was an amount I could never pay back. This private pilot worked with the airport in some way shape or form. His plane was an interesting kind. I'd seen it in the movies. It had the buffers on the legs meant for floating on water. Did he intend to drop me off in the ocean?

The pilot himself was okay. He was named John, or Jean. Jeff? Well, John-Jean-Jeff was pleasant to talk to, and by that I mean he said nice things about the weather to me and I just nodded and smiled. I didn't know him particularly well, and found it hard to say much at all to him.

Naturally, I spent the vast majority of the three-hour plane ride looking out of my window, fiddling with my earmuffs, and thinking of the family I'd left behind. Well, okay, that's not fair. I didn't abandon them, I simply just left. I had to go to college. The thing about Castanet is that nobody there goes to college. They graduate from the half-assed education system we have (which is basically home-schooling, since you're being taught by your neighbor that basically classifies as a close family friend) and go straight on to taking over their family's work. In some cases it meant being one of the few doctors in town, or becoming a farmer.

My brother was a farmer. Benjamin Foster. He was younger than me, when I left for college he was just a teenager filled with angst. He was a lot like our father: adventurous, and social. I don't know how they managed to do it, and why I didn't inherit it. Benjamin and my father had the inherent ability to make complete strangers smile. Everybody liked them. They were schmoozers. Complete and total kiss-asses, but I loved them without a doubt.

My father, Calvin, was a great man. A true adventurer, he had the adventurer's hat to prove it. He was always so supporting of me deciding to go to college in the city, and had even offered to pay for it. Naturally I refused, of course. I wanted him to spend his hard earned adventurer-money doing what he loved, going on adventures. Thus when I left for college he and mom left for Europe. I felt almost giddy with excitement to hear about his European excursions. I never got a chance to explore with him because of my mother.

Oh God. Mom.

Needless to say me and my mother didn't have the best of relationships. As a child she was very protective, overly protective you could say. I couldn't do virtually anything. In fact, I was prohibited from going up into the Garmon Mine District. I had tried to go up there and see what all the hubbub was about, but every time she found out and stop me. My mom was a notorious towns-person. She doesn't look like it, but she's very social. Everybody knows and likes my mom, the famous Addison Kemp; the woman who restored the town with her excellent farming skills. Thus when my father and Ben went up to the Garmon Mine to explore and have fun, I was stuck helping mom in the fields. I practically lived in hay.

We always fought, my mother and I. We had such opposing viewpoints on everything. Call it my teenage rebellion or whatnot, but I could not agree with my mother. Of course a part of me was hoping that could change, and would change. I had been gone for a good ten years. I was a twenty-eight year old, for Pete's sake. I was a freaking adult, now.

I suspected everybody in Castanet hadn't changed much, and by that I meant age. Even my mother married young. It was like that there. Everyone got married young. It just happened. Rather than go to college and get a degree they got married and had babies. I was _so _excited to see all of my school friends pregnant and married.

Oh God have mercy on me…I had forgotten my school friends. And by school friends, I mean the boy I left at the altar.

I had just got to thinking about him when we were three hours into the flight, and I noticed the shadow of Castanet in the distance. When I say shadow, I mean shadow. It was so dark and clouded. The peninsula was shrouded in an heavy fog. Both the pilot and I were hesitant. He asked if it was always like this, and of course I responded with confusion. I had never seen the weather so…abnormal. It was literally only Castanet veiled in darkness. The land past it and the ocean out of its bound was still bright with the afternoon light.

We entered the fog and my pilot cursed under his breath. "I'm going to have to drop you outside of this fog, I can't see anything."

Neither could I. Our vision was restricted from the skies. "That's fine," I told him assuredly, pointing to the east. "Just drop me on that shore. See it?" As we lowered in altitude he did indeed began to see the shore. Yes, the shore was far from town, but it wasn't that far from my old house. I figured I could always drop in on my parents before town. I'd rather face an exuberant father and a judgmental mother than loads of reminiscent school friends.

I was dropped off by the shore. Funny enough the plane couldn't float on water and had to land on the sand, as unbalanced and nerve-wracking as it was. By the end of it I had a high respect for pilots. The man even went as far as help me unload my entire luggage. Considering it was all of my personal belongings, it was a lot.

When the pilot was gone and it was just me and my luggage on the shore, I glanced through the smog and to the farmland, which I could barely see. It looked so far away…

Oh, how I wished I had packed lighter.

X . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x

I hated myself ten minutes into the walk. My heels were not a smart decision, and packing so much was a horrible idea. I was taking ten steps with some of my bags, and then running back to take those same ten steps with the rest of my luggage. I kept hoping somebody would saunter down the shore and later the dirt road with helping hands, but alas nobody came. For such a small yet busy town, there was barely any foot traffic.

Furthermore I was taken back, the weather was absolutely horrible. It was spring, I shouldn't have been so chilly. In fact I had to stop to open my luggage and take out a thicker jacket. I didn't remember it being so cold in spring. It was that sort of temperature that made you think it would rain. It should have, by the looks of the clouds…or at least I thought. However the more I looked at the clouds, the more confused I got. They seemed to get darker towards town.

The funny thing about all of this wasn't that the weather was bad, it had always been bad. I remember horribly strange weather patterns growing up, that was the norm for the Castanet I was raised in. No, it wasn't the absurd weather, it was how nobody was _around _for it. Growing there were always people walking. Even through the bad weather Castanet had a funky way of attracting tourists. In fact when I got to the Farmlands, I expected to see actual farmhands. We had those. Around when I was born my mother had hired some. Where were they? Passing through the fields that question nagged at me. However I didn't think of it much when I spotted a familiar threshold just ahead the small hill.

Somehow I made it, I had enough spunk, perhaps, to drag my belongings all the way through the farmlands and to my childhood home. The red roof looked so inviting, for a moment I stopped to just gawk at it.

And gawk I did. That house was not the same house I had grown up in. It had grown. The second floor looked bigger, and the first floor had been expanded from the looks of it. The siding seemed newer, fresher, and the gutters weren't falling apart. The surprise forced me to do some aesthetic digging. I looked towards the barn and chicken coop, and saw the same results. Things were newer, bigger, _nicer_.

Of course then I looked at the actual crop fields, and realized I'd spoken too soon. The fields were in horrible condition. Yes, things were planted and some were sprouting, but the condition of the things that had grown was horrible. I had been raised with gardening, and this was absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't believe the horrible shape my mother was keeping our crops in. I felt a possessive anger boil deep in the pit of my stomach.

I stomped towards the house, kicked and dragging my belongings with me. The closer I got, the more newer things I spotted. New mailbox, new window boxes. Was that fresh paint? No matter, these things couldn't stop me. I was heavily irritated by the condition of our crops, and my frustration fueled the three, echoing knocks I rapped on the door.

Only to get no response.

I knocked three louder, abrasive times before getting no response. I didn't expect it to open, but when I angrily went to turn the knob, there was no resistance. I had forgotten the fact that the people in this town didn't lock their doors.

Rubbing between my brows with my free hand, I stepped into the house. Once all my belongings were through the front door I shut it, locking it, and took a moment to look around. The place had indeed changed. Originally the main room served as everything, a kitchen, a family room, and even a bedroom for my parents. I know, it sounded weird, but when you came from a poor farming family this was what you get. To the right was the original bedroom of my brother and I, and the stairs in that same direction led to the upstairs living space (which we hardly used). But now…gosh, I didn't know what was happening now. The stairs and the door to the bedroom were still there, but the kitchen and kitchen table were closed off to the left with actual walls and an archway. Walking forward through this strange rearranged family room, there was a door. I assumed it was another bedroom, as my parents' bed was gone from its original corner.

"Mom?! Dad?!" I called, taking hesitant steps forward. This place really didn't feel like the same, it wasn't my home anymore, not really. It had been given such a drastic face-lift, and I had only been gone for t-

Everything stopped; my body, my thoughts, and my breath. What was that? I had heard something, it sounded like a crash, and it was coming from that new door that beckoned me to open it. It almost sounded like bare feet on hard wood (new hard wood floors, I noted). I crept towards the door, prepared to open it when I was stopped.

It opened on its own, and out jumped my brother, wearing a cotton bathrobe.

Suspiciously Benjamin leaned against the door, blocking my view behind him. His hand reached back and slowly closed it behind him. Ten years I hadn't seen or heard from my brother, and here he was, in a bathrobe. Had he slept in? What about his duties on the farm. I just assumed that because he was still living with our parents he was still doing the same chores, which meant waking up at the same ungodly hour every morning. That couldn't be the case, though, not with him dressed like...well, like _that_.

"Heeeey Bri, what are you doing here?" He bumbled, using his other hand to gesture to me. He glanced at my things by the front door and frowned. "Oh no no no…" He blabbered negatively, removing himself from his spot and rushing to my things.

I narrowed my eyes, brows furrowed. "Nice to see you too, Benjamin." I murmured.

"You can't stay here." He told me, or rather, ordered. Ben pointed from my belongings to me, shaking his head all the while. "I'm sorry, but just because the house has an extra bedroom now does not mean you can stay in it."

"Yeah, whatever." I retorted. In all actuality, I was quite disappointed. I hadn't seen my younger brother in years, and he was more than prepared to kick me out right then and there. We hadn't caught up yet, in fact he wasn't even fully dressed. I was expected a more familial welcoming, one that would make me feel warm and fuzzy. Instead I was irritated and had a growing headache.

He must have seen the way the vein popped from my forehead, because he instantly got defensive. "No, I mean, it's not that I don't want you here, it's just…well." He looked around for his words nervously. "Well, I just…I just don't fucking want you here!" He threw his arms up, once again pointing to my things. "Now get out of my house."

Here we go. I was in town for less than half an hour and my brother and I were already fighting. Oddly enough, it felt very natural. "First off, I will stay wherever I want. That is my right as your more accomplished older sister." I told him, nostrils flared. "Secondly, what do you mean _your _house. You don't o-"

He angrily cut the air with his hands. "Oh what do you know! Yes, Brielle, I own the house now." He told me, raging over to the kitchen. I followed him, stomping my own feet.

I was outraged with just shock alone. "What do you mean?" I demanded, crossing my arms as I stepped into our kitchen. At least the kitchen hadn't changed too much.

He threw open a cabinet and when he saw there were no dishes, took a dirty cup from the sink. "I mean Mom and Dad don't live here anymore, stupid." He bit back, filling up the cup with water and drinking from it. Immediately after he dumped the rest out in the sink and threw the cup back. "You would know that if you kept in touch." He narrowed his eyes.

I paused, lowering my arms to my side. Once he had said that I wasn't nearly as angry as I was before. "Is that was this is about?" I asked. When all I got was silence, I repeated, "Is that was this is all about, Ben? Me being away for so long?"

He rubbed his forehead, "Yes, and no. I mean not really, but then…" His voice was significantly calmer as he sat down at our breakfast table, resting his arms on its surface. "You've been gone for so long, Bri. Did you just expect me to be uppity and cheerful when you drop by, unannounced, and expect me to le-"

We both stopped, as we both heard the same noise. Something had fallen in the door he'd been so carefully guarding. I made eye contact with my brother, and for a moment there was this air about us. A competitive air. I wanted to know what the noise was, but something about it told me he didn't want me to. Well, considering I was the older sibling…

I clearly wasn't about to listen to him. I jumped to it, running full-speed out of the kitchen and to the door. I threw it open, tumbling in after it. Indeed, it was a bedroom. With some new furniture and nice ranch-style floral wallpaper. In the middle of it was a fallen lamp, and on the far wall an open window with a half-naked woman attempting to crawl out of it.

The sight was just too…funny. It was so completely awkward, that I couldn't help but laugh. The woman turned, no doubt embarrassed from being caught with my little brother. This was too funny. Of course it made sense now, why my brother had been acting so bipolar. He merely didn't want me to interrupt his sexy time with…

Oh God. It was Lucy.

I knew Lucy, she was the tan daughter of Luke and Selena. I went to school with Lucy. We were friends as kids. Lucy was so nice, and spunky. To suddenly see her in her lingerie, supposedly hooking up with my little brother… Needless to say my laughter stopped immediately.

Lucy crawled down from the window sill, attempting to cover herself with the long jacket she had brought with her. Of course I really doubted she thought her plan through, to crawl out into the cold with nothing but her underwear on. It almost seemed cruel.

"Hi Brielle." She murmured, scratching behind her ear nervously. "I didn't know you were, well, in town."

"Nobody knew." Benjamin cut in. I shushed him.

I gave Lucy some privacy, turning my face away and covering her figure up in my vision with my hand. "Yeah, I kind of sort of dropped in unannounced." Unfortunately Lucy was one of the school friends I didn't want to see. We were never real friendly towards each other. Especially when she kept trying to put the moves on my boyfriend. Things like that don't go over with teenage girls too well, you know. "So, uh, which parent did you decide to take over for?" I asked.

Lucy's thick lips curved up in a smile. "Oh, me?" She mused, putting her clothes on hurriedly. "I decided to learn dance from my mother." Figures, with a body like that. "Oh!" She had the majority of her clothes on by now, and jumped up as if she remembered something important. "My mother is pregnant. I know. Shocker."

It wasn't really a shocker for me, but I went with it. I had forgotten that in a small town pregnancies were a big thing.

Lucy pulled her dark hair into a pony tail. She was dressed enough for me to look at her again, though it would be hard to look at her in the same way. "I know, it's funny because everyone thought I'd become a carpenter like my father. But I find dance a lot more refreshing."

What was she saying? It was hard to hear past her suddenly outrageously large chest. I tried to look away, but I didn't remember it being quite so…big. Nor did I remember her being so pretty. As teenagers Lucy was a complete tomboy. She even wore overalls. Now here she was, wearing actual pants, wearing actual makeup, and sleeping with my brother.

"Well, I'll just be going then~" She said faux-cheerfully. Lucy gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and walked away. "Bye then." I could only hope she was exiting through our front door and not another window.

For a moment there it was just me, in that silent room, with my brother and I didn't quite know what to do about it. Should I ask him why, or if it was serious? I felt as if there was a good question there to ask, but unfortunately there was only one question that would come out of my mouth, and even though I knew he wouldn't like it very much Lucy's suddenly very beautiful person pegged me to ask it.

I looked at him, flabbergasted, and asked, "_How_?"

Ben smiled mischievously, oddly enough, and walked away. Like a kicked puppy I followed him. Slowly I sat down on his couch, staring at him blankly as he leaned against the wall. He wasn't going to tell me, that son of a bitch. He was going to make me wonder how he landed a girl like Lucy. Sorry for my crudeness, but I know I wouldn't have been the only one wondering that. This was my idiot brother, the same one that tried to fertilize grass.

"Anyways," he told me, getting my head off of the subject, "I've decided that you can live here if you don't disturb."

It took me a second, but eventually I got it. A large, mischievous smile curled up on my face as I contemplated his question. "Disturb? With what?" I said in a frothy tone, "Your late night hookups with Ms. '_I Find Dance Refreshing'_?"

He frowned. "You could be a little nicer about it. Her name is Lucy, and she was your friend in school." He told me, raising a brow.

I laughed. Sure, she was a friend until she kissed my boyfriend. "Yeah, so. She was your babysitter." I advised him.

Ben sighed, raising his hand defensively. "You can't do that."

"What?" I retorted quizzically.

"_That_." He gestured to my whole self, lounging on his couch and judging his lifestyle. "You can't be yourself. Don't do that."

I rose my brows, looking back towards his kitchen. "Well, little brother, you're going to have to accept me because I think we both know you're definitely not going to do your own dishes." I glanced at him and the bathrobe. "Or even your own laundry."

Before Ben could get much more in I stood up and walked to the door, grabbing my things. For the next half an hour I settled in, apparently I got to stay in our old bedroom, now the guest bedroom. It had been modernized, I had to admit. The originally huge room had been cut to include its own private little bathroom. It was quite quaint. Albeit the embarrassingly childish insect wallpaper was still there, the twin beds were replaced with one queen sized mattress on a four-poster frame. It was nice.

While I unpacked my things into the dresser Ben went to get dressed and make us food, which in his world meant toast and butter. It was fine with me, though. I wasn't in the mood for gourmet cooking. Once I had unpacked most of my things I exited the bedroom and found my way to the kitchen where Ben was.

Ben was looking good, oddly enough. When he was fully dressed I could almost see what Lucy liked in him. Ben, the handsome farmer with tanned skin and a lean build. I gave him a funny look as I sat down, I really couldn't help myself. "Huh," I mused to my thoughts, quirking a brow.

As I thought he was buttering some toast. Ben turned to look over his shoulder. "What?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Eh, it's nothing. Anyways," and I waved my hand in the air, prepared to ask him why the crops looked so bad or why the weather was acting up when it happened. The light in the kitchen hit the ring on my finger at just the right moment to illuminate it.

Ben dropped the butter knife and froze. "Wha-" I smiled awkwardly and hid my hand. This was really not what I wanted to talk about. My life with Leonard was my city life, my new life. Ben was a part of my old, stressful life. I didn't intend for the two to get tangled. Then again, I shouldn't have worn my ring…

He slowly sat down next to me as if he was treading on thin ice. "Don't tell me, you and…?" My face contorted with confusion. What was he getting at? Of course then he went on. "But you just got back to town…and he's never left town..."

Oh God, that's what this was about. He thought I was still engaged to my ex, the teenage man child I had left at the altar when I was eighteen. I shook my head wildly. "No no no, not at all Benjamin. God, why would you think that?" I barked, sitting back in my chair.

He raised both hands defensively. "Gee I'm sorry Bri, it's just. You know. It's _you_. My awkward sister is getting married to someone, and we all just kind of expected it to be, you know."

I shook my head and sighed. This was true. Everybody in town expected me to marry him. Hell, I expected myself to marry him too. For the longest time I thought we were soul mates, but I just couldn't go through with it. I had never bothered to explain myself to anyone other than the boat captain that took me to the mainland so long ago. I couldn't get married then, I wanted to go to college and have a life separate from farm animals and fertilizer, and all that my prospective hubby wanted was… Well he didn't even _know _what he wanted.

"So," Ben started up again, going to the counter and grabbing the toast. He set it down in front of us and reclaimed his seat. "Who's this new guy. My future brother-in-law?"

I took a bite, perhaps a moment too early, as I had to swallow first before I could respond. "His name is Leonard. He lives in the city." I opened my mouth to say more, but stopped as there wasn't much more. His name was Leonard and he lived in the city. To me, that seemed like all Ben needed to know.

"And?" Ben egged.

"And…" I mumbled, taking another bite, "And that's it. Uh, you'd really like him."

Ben frowned. "Really? That's it?" He shook his head, pretending to eat his toast. Of course he was distracted, quite suddenly something deep was on his mind. "That's not how a blushing-bride-to-be talks about her fiancé, sis." He told me in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't like him."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh you're just overreacting." I told him, finishing my toast. He didn't even know Leonard...

Ben merely laughed. "And you're _underreacting_.."

I huffed. "I'm not going to sit here and take this from my baby brother." I told him defensively, pushing my seat back and stomping out of the kitchen. I had spent an half-an-hour hanging out with my brother, as far as I was concerned that was enough in one day. I ran to the bedroom to get my winter boots and put them on, all the while listening to Ben talk at me as he followed me around.

"Honestly Bri, think about it." He advised urgently, gesturing outside. "If the other girls were getting married, hell, _when_ they got married they were ecstatic. Our _mother_ was ecstatic. You're getting _married_. This is supposed to be one of the greatest events in your life, and if it's not?"

I angrily shoved my feet in my boots, kicking my heels to the corner of the room. "And if it's not what, Ben? This is none of your business. Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"I am happy for you, Br-"

This was all I could take from Ben. I grabbed my phone and my wallet, shoved them into the pockets of my pea coat, and headed towards the door. I left the house in a hurry, ignoring what Ben had to say. Ben called after me from the open door, but I didn't stop. He was clearly not happy for me. A supportive brother who was happy for his sister wouldn't criticize how she was acting just because of one little ring on her finger. I swear, Ben was so capable of infuriating me with the smallest things.

Of course after our little quarrel I wasn't quite in the mood to head down to town and find out where our parents lived now. You know, I found it funny how every time Ben and I conversed we forgot important details. Not only did I forget to berate him on the horrid quality of our family's fields, but I'd forgotten to ask where our parents were and how they were doing. Of all the things to talk about, we had to talk about my upcoming nuptials.

It was roughly two o'clock, and as I walked out into our fields and looked around I noted our animals out grazing. Well, he may have been neglecting his gardening duties but the animals looked healthy. Ben had always been good when the animals. I think he found their silence refreshing. Finally, there was another creature that would listen to his ridiculous prose no matter what.

I sauntered away from the fields and the animals to the lake. It was to the north of our farm's Water Wheel. I went to it and looked into it over the fence. Goodness it looked bad. The lake was a disgusting green color, and I doubted any fish lived in there. It was riddled with what looked like algae, only there was an ungodly amount. Should that be happening here? I really didn't think so. I remembered swimming in the lake during the summers when I was a kid. Ben, my friends and I would all go to the lake and mess around. It wasn't an incredibly deep lake, just deep enough in the middle for swimming and water pranks. I even had my first kiss by this lake…he and I, sitting on its edge looking over the water together, romantically.

I was prepared to vacate the premises and head through the smog into town when I heard a gasp. It was far from me, and I looked across the lake to a shady silhouette standing on the trail to the Garmon Mine District.

"Brielle?!" The voice called in shock, suddenly dropping whatever items it had and bolting down the path towards me. It took a moment, but the closer they got the more details I could identify. Slender frame, large dark eyes, silver hair, and was that a beret? It was a girl, fashionable in every sense of the word. This girl was my best friend, Vivian.

When I saw Vivian, gosh, I was just so overwhelmed. I truly missed Vivian. We'd grown up together, and we were always such good friends. While I was awkward and antisocial she was shy, we'd bonded over our insecurities and a mutual love for flowers. (Though I preferred to plant them and she preferred to look.)

I ran to Vivian too, to meet her halfway. When we met each other we collided in a big, tearful hug. Both of us were sniffling at the sight of the other.

"Vivian!" I happily exclaimed, pulling back to get a good look at her. She had grown in the last ten years. Vivian was not the same teenager that I remembered. Her hair was nicely cut at a medium length, the youthful bangs replaced by a sturdy headband and an acne-free forehead. She was dressed so nicely, too. I mean Vivian was always very fashionable, even more so than myself, but she looked especially nice today. Her dress suit matched her beret, and the beige trench coat she wore over it.

She was looking over me as well, summing up how much I had changed, which really wasn't much. "Brielle!" She responded happily, sniffling and giggling at the same time.

This was very much so a typical reunion between two foolish females as I had seen it done in so many movies. For ten minutes we just stood there, together, proclaiming how much we've missed each other. It was all true, of course. I did miss Vivian. I told her everything, she knew everything. Even though she was only one of the people I'd run away from on the day of my wedding ten years ago, I think she forgave me based on how happy she seemed right now.

It was then I remembered the things she had dropped further up on the trail. I pointed to them, wiping under my eyes with my other hand. "Did you drop something important?" I asked her.

She looked behind her shoulder and shrugged. "Just some herbs I was collecting for a friend. It's nothing." She turned back to me. "I was heading to town, do you want to go with me. Oh Gosh! There's so much to catch up on!"

And so we did. We walked through my family's farmland and followed the path west to town. Vivian told me about her father, Gill, becoming the new Mayor of Castanet and Hamilton retiring off on Toucan Island. She was so proud of Gill, and it made me happy. She and her mother, Luna, were working together at the Clothing Shop occasionally, though that wasn't Vivian's actual job. Which, quite honestly, shocked me. Vivian was apparently training to take over for Gill when he got too old, as Gill had done for Hamilton. Though the way I heard Vivian talk about it had me convinced that wasn't what she wanted, and although she tried to make it seem so I could tell. I knew Vivian better than that. She loved fashion, she even sewed her own clothes. City Hall was not the place she wanted to spend the rest of her life working.

Even so she shared details and I did, telling her the "wild" college stories in the city. Though to me there wasn't much she was enamored when I told her about the buildings that stretched up to the sky, and the people. Oh! So many people!

Naturally our conversation turned to our dating lives. Vivian was still single, it seemed. Which was understandable, I mean, in school she had dated our friend Matt but I knew they weren't compatible. When it came to my friends I could see things very clearly. Of course soon enough Vivian caught sight of my left hand, but oddly enough I still didn't have much more to say than what I told Ben.

"Well his name is Leonard, and he's an accountant." I told Vivian, nodding and holding my hands at my front as we walked down the path. The seaside town was in sight now, the bright buildings standing out amidst the fog.

"Well, he sounds like a nice guy." Vivian told me, thankfully in a kinder tone than I had gotten earlier.

I meant to respond to Vivian, you know, tell her more about Leonard…but I was floored by the sky. The fog was far more dense in town, and seemed to originated from Mount Garmon. I stopped in my tracks, gawking up at the swirling dark clouds that surrounded the peak.

I heard Vivian sigh. "Yeah, it's gotten worse, Bri. I know, we grew up with some pretty bad weather, too. But this is record-breaking. It's really affecting our lives. The tourists left when the ocean started getting to rowdy."

My eyes opened wide as I turned to her. "What?" I asked. If the tourists were gone, how was the town making any money?

"I think they were afraid that if they didn't leave then they'd never get home." Vivian frowned earnestly. "I know. The Inn doesn't have any business, well aside from some of our friends. Ah! Taylor and Chloe are married now, remember them? They've been living there for a few months while Roy, Luke, and Bo build them a house out in Flute Fields." She seemed to like filling me in on all the little details. "Oh!" She exclaimed, giddy with gossip, "Luke and Selena are having another child!"

I shrugged it off, remembering my encounter with Lucy roughly an hour ago. "I know." I told Vivian, waving her look of confusion away. I was more focused on that house detail. "Roy, Luke, _and _Bo?" I questioned.

Vivian frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring him up."

I shook my head. "It's all right Vivian. Let's just get somewhere warm and have some coffee or something." I told her as we crossed the bridge into town.

Vivian nodded and smiled, wrapping one of her arms through mine. She leaned her head on my shoulder. "Sure. I'm so happy you're back." She told me.

Earnestly I smiled, choosing my words carefully. "Yeah," I simply replied, taking a content breath in as we continued our walk forward.

X . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x

**Sorry that was long, but my chapters usually run long. Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please read and review~**

**Dahlia**


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